It is desirable to recycle materials that still have useful life. Golf ball cores are typically made from materials that do not deteriorate as quickly as the covers which surround them. However, when the covers become scuffed, cut, or otherwise deteriorate, many golfers discard the balls and use a new ball for a more predictable performance.
However, only the cover has deteriorated in many instances, and the cores can be recovered and reused or the materials in the cores may be recycled in other ways. In some cases, the core may simply be recovered and reused in the same form and shape. In other cases, the core material or materials may be ground or otherwise reconditioned and combined with other such materials and reused. In some cases, the materials may be reconditioned to be formed into another ball core. In other cases, the materials may be recycled to be used for other purposes.
In many cases, the cover and the core are made from different materials that are joined together. Frequently, an adhesive is used to ensure that the core and the cover remain in fixed relationship to one another. However, the use of such an adhesive creates difficulty in recycling.
The use of an adhesive creates two separate problems. First, the adhesive makes it difficult to separate the cover and the core. Also, the adhesive needs to be removed from both the cover and the core in order to recycle either or both materials. These two difficulties create a relatively high expense to recycle ball materials, which reduces the economic feasibility of doing so.
Accordingly, it is desirable to develop a ball where the cost to recycle the ball is minimized. If a ball design eases the difficulty in separating the core and cover, eases the removal of the adhesive from one or more of the materials, or both, the recycling cost is minimized, which enhances the desire and ability for golfers and manufacturers to recycle balls. The development of a ball that incorporates a material or layer to enable such recycling is desirable.